Wine of the Week: Overhill Winery 2010 Red Silk Shiraz

The 2010 Red Silk Shiraz from Australia's McLaren Vale, one of the country's oldest wine-growing regions, is both aptly named and a true expression of the popular juicy red varietal. This offering from the Overhill Winery retails for about $20 at big box stores.

Red Silk displays a classic candy nose, which in the case of a shiraz is not a bad thing at all. In this case, the confection is chocolate cherry, and it carries over forcefully onto the tongue, where big chocolate cherry is nicely accented with blackberry and a hint of bramble. Overall, this red is full bodied and blessed with the silky mouthfeel one expects in a good shiraz. Its finish is long and full and slightly tannic at the last.

This is a yummy wine for sharing with friends at fireside on a chilly evening, but it also will purr with foods as diverse as cheeseburgers, roast duck or boeuf bourguignon, which in Julia Child's classic recipe calls for three cups of a wine just like this one. How handy.

By Colette and John Bancroft. She is the Times' book editor, and he is a freelance writer specializing in food, wine and travel. For an index and archive of reviews, go to pictograph.com.